Computer Crimes Charged In College Cash-For-Grades Scheme

Ten people, including the former director of admissions and the former director of the computer center at a Manhattan college, were indicted as being part of a scheme that involved forging transcripts and altering grades.

Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced last week that the case centers around Touro College, where people who never attended classes at the school paid between $3,000 and $25,000 for forged transcripts. Three Touro College students also were indicted, along with three New York City Public School teachers.

Andrique Baron is charged with computer trespass, three counts of commercial bribe receiving in the first degree, seven counts of computer tampering in the third degree, and 10 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. He was the director of admissions for Touro College, New York School of Career and Applied Studies, between 1994 and 2007.

Michael Cherner is charged with computer trespass, two counts of commercial bribe receiving in the first degree, and one count of commercial bribe receiving in the second degree, one count of computer tampering in the third degree, and three counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. He was the director of the computer center for Touro College, Kings Highway, Brooklyn campus between 1990 and 2007.

A statement from the college noted that the college's own oversight discovered the problem, which administrators believe was "limited in scope." The college has dismissed the employees who were indicted.

The New York County District Attorney's Office listed the other defendants as Vladimir "Jimmy" Diaquoi, Lasheen Tingling, Florence Constant, Uzi Azizov, Boris Yakubov, Renee Rene, Ghislene Julmice, and Irene Zalivansky.

According to the indictment, between Jan. 8, 2007, and March 31, 2007, Baron and Cherner allegedly improperly altered, created, and deleted at least seven transcripts in a cash-for-grades scheme. At least three of the altered records belonged to current Touro students, whose existing records were enhanced with improved grades or additional or deleted courses.

Baron allegedly made the changes to the transcripts by accessing the Touro computer server using both his work computer and his home computer. Cherner is being accused of making the changes by accessing the Touro computer server using his work computer.

Baron and Cherner also accepted bribes from at least four people who never attended Touro College, but paid for fraudulent transcripts. Three of them were New York City Department of Education teachers who needed master's degrees to obtain permanent certification.

The district attorney's office reported that Azizov, an undergraduate student at Touro College, saw his grade point average go from 1.23 to 3.63 with Baron and Cherner's aid. In the 2006 fall semester, he failed four of his five courses, but his records were changed to show that he received As and Bs in six courses.